Method and system for separating and recovering wire and other metal from processed recycled materials

Abstract

Processing waste materials to recover valuable metals, such as copper, from the materials. The disclosed systems and methods employ processes that further refine the waste materials to concentrate the metallic material after the waste materials are initially processed. Processes include employing air separation and screening. Processes also include employing a dynamic sensor and a vacuum pressure separator to separate metals from other materials.

1. A method for processing a waste stream comprising the steps of:
 receiving the waste stream comprising non-ferrous metal components; 
 processing the received waste stream with a first air separator to generate a first heavy fraction waste stream; 
 processing the first heavy fraction waste stream in a first destoner to generate a second heavy fraction and a light fraction; 
 crushing the second heavy fraction in a crusher; 
 screening the crushed second heavy fraction to separate the components of the crushed second heavy fraction into a first size and a second size, wherein the first size is larger than the second size; 
 processing the first size of components of the second heavy fraction in a second destoner to generate a third heavy fraction; and 
 processing the second size of components of the second heavy fraction in a small materials separator to further concentrate the non ferrous metal component in the second size. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of screening the first heavy fraction waste stream prior to processing the first heavy fraction waste stream in the first destoner. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  wherein the small materials separator comprises a water table. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1  wherein the small materials separator comprises an electrostatic separator. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 processing the light fraction in a second air separator to separate the light fraction into a second light fraction and a third heavy fraction; and 
 processing the third heavy fraction from the second air separator with a dynamic sensor to identify non-ferrous metal components of the third heavy fraction. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5  wherein the identified non-ferrous metal components comprise copper. 
     
     
       7. A method for processing a waste stream comprising the steps of:
 receiving the waste stream comprising non-ferrous metal components; 
 processing the received waste stream with a first air separator to generate a first heavy fraction waste stream and a first light fraction waste stream; 
 processing the first heavy fraction waste stream in a first destoner to generate a second heavy fraction waste stream and a second light fraction waste stream; 
 screening the second heavy fraction waste stream to separate the components of the second heavy fraction waste stream into a first size range and a second size range, wherein the first size range comprises waste components that are larger than the waste components comprising the second size range; and 
 processing the second size range of the second heavy fraction waste stream in a second destoner to generate a third heavy fraction. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7  further comprising the step of processing the first size range of the second heavy fraction waste stream in a dynamic sensor to identify copper in the first size range of the second heavy fraction waste stream. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7  further comprising the steps of:
 processing the second light fraction waste stream with a second air separator to generate a fourth heavy fraction waste stream; and 
 processing the fourth heavy fraction waste stream in a dynamic sensor to identify copper in the fourth heavy fraction waste stream. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9  wherein the screening step comprises screening the second heavy fraction waste stream to separate the components of the second heavy fraction waste stream into the first size range, the second size range, a third size range, and a fourth size range, wherein at least one of the four size ranges is processed in the second destoner. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9  wherein the first destoner and the second destoner comprise the same apparatus. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9  wherein the waster stream comprises processed automobile shredder residue. 
     
     
       13. A system for processing a waste stream comprising:
 a first air separator operable receive the waste stream and to generate a first light fraction and a first heavy fraction of the waste stream wherein the first heavy fraction comprises non-ferrous metal components; 
 a first destoner operable to generate a second light fraction and a second heavy fraction from the first heavy fraction; 
 a screen operable to receive the second heavy fraction and separate the second heavy fraction into a first size range and a second size range, wherein the first size range comprises waste stream components having a size greater than the waste stream components comprising the second size range; and 
 a second destoner operable to separate the second heavy fraction comprising the second size range into a third light fraction and a third heavy fraction, wherein the third heavy fraction comprises non-ferrous metal at a concentration greater than the concentration of non-ferrous metal in the waste stream. 
 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 9  further comprising a dynamic sensor operable process the second heavy fraction comprising the first size range to identify copper. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 9  wherein the screen comprises a first screen, a second screen, and a third screen operable to separate the second heavy fraction into four size ranges.